Plein Air

The art produced from Plein Air Painting is only part of the experience. I grew up in a small rural town in Northern California and spent much of my youth camping, hunting, fishing and back-packing throughout the mountains of California. As a family, we would go on trips rock hounding or bottle digging all over the northern part of the state and into Nevada. I always loved the adventure of discovery and finding new places. Plein Air Painting involves all of these things I loved so much as a youth. My wife Rachel is also a painter and we like nothing more than to take off for parts unknown seeking the landscape. It is also a change from the sedimentary life if the studio. Hauling our gear all over the place hiking around setting up and standing for hours in the wild is a lot of exercise. We go out and camp for weeks at a time. It is a wonderful experience and sometimes we get some good art work out of the deal. Many of the Plein Air work is what is called Alla Prima, meaning it is completed on the spot, in one shot, with no revisions. These works are by necessity smaller works. There is a sense of urgency. Knowing, that I am not going back and what I do in this moment is it. For some of the larger work I will go back to the same location at the same time every day until I finish. Occasionally I will work on a painting in the studio that I started on location. I try not to use photos for this kind of work relying on memory and the experience of being there.